Governor candidate Avellone vows action on drug abuse

Gubernatorial candidate Joseph Avellone is proposing that, if elected governor, he would set up a high-level department for substance abuse recovery.

Jo C. Goode Herald News Staff Reporter @jgoodeHN

FALL RIVER — Gubernatorial candidate Joseph Avellone is proposing that, if elected governor, he would set up a high-level department for substance abuse recovery, he said Friday during a visit to the city.

“I have been campaigning now for over a year, and I’ve seen a big and growing problem with addiction in many, many cities and towns all throughout our state. So I think it’s time for the state to do something radically different,” Avellone said.

Avellone, a Wellesley Democrat, proposed that the new department would be part of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services and would treat addiction as a health problem, moving it away from the justice system and ensuring the state has the treatment facilities and capabilities to refer people immediately to treatment.

“Our county jails are full of people who have minor drug offenses that don’t belong there,” Avellone said, “and through expanding our drug courts I plan to make sure those folks don’t land up in jail and do end up in treatment.”

Avellone, a businessman and physician, said most people in prison on drug charges are incarcerated a year, costing the state $46,000 a year per inmate.

“We can create a lot of treatment capabilities with the money we saved by having these mostly young drug offenders out of jail,” Avellone said. “So it’s really shifting our approach to treatment and creating the capabilities to do that.”

Avellone said the governor can play an important role in removing the stigma of substance abuse and shifting the focus so that more people think of it as a health problem and not a crime. He said with his background as a physician, he has the ability to use the governor’s office to change people’s opinions on the subject.

Another issue in the battle against addiction is drug overprescription, he said.

As governor, Avellone said, he would work with the governors from the other New England states and the congressional delegation on this matter.

“Together, I think we can push hard on the (Food and Drug Administration) and the pharmacy industry to create safer drugs that are less able to be abused,” Avellone said.

Addiction often starts after people are prescribed powerful narcotic pills, like Oxycontin and Vicodin, he said. Often, young people take them from their parent and use the drugs socially.

“And then they quickly become addicted,” Avellone said. “As it becomes harder to get those pills, they then turn to low-cost heroin, which is flooding our cities and towns. So we have to do a lot more with overprescribing and the misuse of drugs.”